The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to within the following description about at least the prior art and/or the present invention.    1x EV-DO 1x Evolved-Data Optimized    CDMA2000 Code Division Multiple Access    3GPP2 Third Generation Partnership Project 2    GSM Global System for Mobile Communications    LTE Long-Term Evolution    MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services    MBSFN Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network    MCE Multi-Cell/Multicast Coordination Entity    MME Mobile Management Entity    S-GW Serving Gateway    UMTS/W-CDMA Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/Wideband-CDMA    WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
Referring to FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART), there is a diagram of an exemplary traditional LTE wireless telecommunications network 100 configured to provide a MBMS service to one or more UEs 102 (only one shown). In this example, the traditional LTE wireless telecommunications network 100 includes two MMEs/S-GWs 104a and 104b, four eNBs 106a, 106b, 106c and 106d, four cells 108a, 108b, 108c and 108d, and three MCEs 110a, 110b and 110c. The first MME/S-GW 104a has S1 interfaces with eNBs 106a and 106b. The second MME/S-GW 104b has S1 interfaces with eNBs 106c and 106d. The first MCE 110a has a M2 interface with eNB 106b. The second MCE 110b has M2 interfaces with eNBs 106a and 106d. The third MCE 110c has a M2 interface with eNB 106c. The eNBs 106a, 106b, 106c and 106d communicate with one another over multiple X2 interfaces. The eNBs 106a, 106b, 106c and 106d respectively manage their own cells 108a, 108b, 108c and 108d which have their own radio cover areas within which there may be one or more UEs 102. In this example, the cells 108a, 108b, 108c and 108d have the following cell information:                Cell 108a (Cell 1): MBSFN Synchronization Area=1 and MBSFN Area=1. The UE 102 which is located within cell 108a has a TMGI=1.        Cell 108b (Cell 2): MBSFN Synchronization Area=2 and MBSFN Area=1.        Cell 108c (Cell 3): MBSFN Synchronization Area=1 and MBSFN Area=2.        Cell 108d (Cell 4): MBSFN Synchronization Area=1 and MBSFN Area=1.        
The exemplary traditional LTE wireless telecommunications network 100 has an architecture and functionality for providing MBMS to UEs 102 as described in 3GPP TS 36.300 entitled “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 10)” dated June 2011. The contents of this document are incorporated by reference herein. The skilled person will appreciate that the exemplary traditional LTE wireless telecommunication system 100 may have many different configurations and may support multiple UEs 102, multiple MMEs/S-GWs 104a and 104b, multiple eNBs 106a, 106b, 106c and 106d, and multiple MCEs 110a, 110b and 110c. In addition, the skilled person will also appreciate that the exemplary traditional LTE wireless telecommunication system 100 would include many other components which are well known in the art but their description is not needed to explain a particular problem that may occur when the UE 102 which is currently receiving a MBMS service moves away from their current source cell 108a (for example). This particular problem is discussed in detail next.
In the exemplary traditional LTE wireless telecommunications system 100 there is a MBMS Service present in a subset of the cells 108a, 108b, 108c and 108d. If the UE 102 is in connected mode and receiving a MBMS service then it would be advantageous to handover the UE 102 to another cell supporting the same MBMS service so the UE 102 continues to receive the MBMS service. If the target cell does not support the same MBMS Service, then the UE 102 may decide to receive this service over unicast which increases the traffic load in the network 100 or the UE 102 may not be able to access the MBMS service at all if for instance the cell does not have the extra resources.
In the present example, when the UE 102 is in cell 108a and a handover is made to cell 108b where the two cells 108a and 108b have the same MBSFN areas IDs but the MBSFN Synchronization areas are different. This means that the two MBSFN areas are not identical but they have been assigned the same MBSFN area by chance or accident. In this case, when the UE 102 is handed over to cell 108b, it is possible that the service is not available over MBMS hence the UE 102 may not be able to receive the service. If the UE 102 is handover from cell 108a to cell 108c then same problem may occur because the MBSFN areas are different. If the UE 102 is handover from cell 108a to cell 108d it is guaranteed that the target cell 108d supports the service since both cells 108a and 108d support the same MBSFN area and the same MBSFN Synchronization area. Thus, if eNB 104a selects cell 108d as the target cell for the handover then the UE 102 will be able to receive the broadcasted service received in the source cell 108a. However, the eNB 104a currently does not have the information needed to help select a target cell so the UE 102 may continue to receive the MBMS Service. This need and other needs are satisfied by the present invention.